Thread: What made u get really into Halloween

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This thread has probably been done b4, but I was just wondering what got u into doing Halloween wayyyyy over the top each yr? There arnt that many of us. Most dont even decorate in my hood. Most still think Halloween is for kids 12 & under ONLY. It makes me sad when I hear an adult say that. I want to change that!!!!

When I was 5-6 my mom made us witches costumes & paper mache witch hats. Then we (sis/I/mom) walked in a parade. I was so little I couldnt even walk the route. Loved it. My grandmother also told us ghost stories & scared the heck outa us. She lived in a farm house which was a log cabin from the 1700s, had a ghost named Eli living on her farm. She also had cannon ball divits in her pasture from the civil war. He was dressed in uniform when she saw him outside her kitchen window. She also had seances. Didnt everyone' s grandmother have seances? Apparently not. My aunt also woke up one nite saying she saw Sarah, an old relative who died in her room. She died at age 12 from scarlet fever. Also had several other occurances that happend. So I love Halloween/ being scared too. It started early.

I decorated for first Halloween & only had 3-4 tombstones/props/1spotlite. I actually had droves of people/kids crawling all over my display (to my horror) thought they would fall over ext cords. They were taking pics of their kids w/my props! That seemed odd to me, but I loved the turnout/effect it had. So a decade later, it is almost out of control. I had one kid say to me he has to come to my house first to start Halloween. Love that!! Awwww. So whats ur story?

I've always just been into scary stuff, so naturally Halloween was my favorite holiday. I think its kinda of common for boys to be into monsters and stuff like that when they are young. Well at least to me it seems that way but then my opinion may be biased.

So I think the scariness of it is what made me cling to the holiday most. Plus of course, its a night you get to dress up, run around at night (well when I was a kid we went at night), get FREE CANDY (What kid doesn't love candy, and on top of that FREE!) and get a little scared. Whats not to love? I don't see how its not everyones favorite holiday. Its just so much fun! Its a special time of year where scary spooky stuff rules.

I always try to savor it as much as possible, and abstain from ANYTHING Halloween through out the year until like September. Well I'm here on the board now so I must admit the mood usually starts to hit me again around this time for the past few years, but I try not to dwell on it too much and hold off til at least the first of September.

Anyway as I've gotten older I've got my Halloween routine more honed. I got a bunch of Halloween themed movies and TV shows at the ready to enjoy through out Sept-Oct. I plan a costume. And I figure out how to schedule a party and a night of TOT with my little brother. So I get the best of both worlds. Since Halloween is on a Monday this year I have no doubt I'll be able to go to a party on the weekend and then be able to TOT on Monday. And yes even though I was 29 last year, I was in costume and was not refused candy by anyone. Probably cuz I was with my little brother but hey kids gotta be good for something haha.

I've not owned my own house yet so unfortunately I've not been able to decorate, but believe me, once I get my own place it will be awesome. I once designed a "haunted house" at a camp I was working at. It was basically just a room with some tarps for walls and someone jumped out and scared the kids as they walked through. But it was apparantly the high light of the night. So I figure I would do something similar to that for my Halloween night.

Also I love the Universal Monsters, so they are another part of my Halloween love. I had a fascination with them before I even seen any of the movies. I just loved that they were monsters. My affiliation with them was based more on "Monster Squad" than the classic movies. Only in the past few years have I finally seen the classics, and read Darcula and Frankenstein. I loved them all. And I have the latest *addition* to the series "House of the Wolfman" waiting to be watched. I think that will be the first one I watch on September 1st. Maybe on august 31st at midnight hahaa.

It may sound funny, but I'm a stickler for that date, cuz I wanna keep Halloween isolated to that special time of year so that I can remember it fondly. Like say in March I'm scrolling through my iPod and I find of my Halloween songs (which I mostly only listen to around Halloween.) But the songs I'm a little more loose with. Because I can play them mid year and hearing them reminds me of Halloween time when I play them all the time, and then it also reminds me of the past Halloween.

Anyway I may have strayed a bit from the topic here, but basically all those things are what got me into Halloween and what keeps me into it each year.

I will reply to this again as soon as I get home!

I'm still a newbie so I love answering this question.

I was always into Halloween but it was something I decorated a week before and by "decorating" it was pretty basic.
I did start to collect some of those animated figurines that are sold at Micheals (i forget the brand).
I'd take the kids to Spirit every year and dream about having the money to make a display or something. But I could never visualize how to do anything.

Then ......this site got me going!
There was a link to how to make tombstones from styrafoam bought from home depot.
Seemed easy and my daughter always asks me to do project with her so we, and my son made our own tombstones one summer afternoon.
They came out great and my kids and I had a lot of fun.
Then the madness began....
PVC, heat gun, glue gun,yard sales, online purchases, music downloads, multiple how-to websites, dumpster diving.......
Just bought 10 yards of black fabric last night that was on clearance, no idea what i'm using it for but I know it will come in handy.

Halloween allows for endless creativity but because of the content (and darkness) it allows for a lot of forgiveness for not being perfect.
I think trying to be perfect, like painting a picture or woodwork, can kill a lot of fun if you like creating things.

Plus so few people get into it. Pretty much anything halloweenish thrown out on the lawn will make kids happy.

(First post. Hi everyone!)

I was a young kid in the 80s, and I grew up in a little semi-rural suburb of Cleveland. We only had one stoplight and one fast food joint, but we had three or four different video rental places. I remember seeing boxes for videos like Evil Dead 2 and Night of the Demons on the shelves and being really drawn to them. Since I was so young and had good parents, there was no way Mom and Dad were going to let me watch that crap. So there was also that element of having what I couldn't.

Also, the yards were big, a lot of people decorated, and there was always one house down the street that would do the event-style trick or treat with the rattling bridge, zipline ghosts, big candy bars, etc. I was scared to death of haunts when I was that young, but somewhere in my little brain, it hooked me.

Originally Posted by pumpkinheadedskeleton

Halloween allows for endless creativity but because of the content (and darkness) it allows for a lot of forgiveness for not being perfect.

I agree with this 100%. I've always loved art that succeeds in a shaky, wobbly, not-quite-right context, where the spirit of what's being created can overcome some fudged lines. I'm only getting started on yard haunts myself, but it's very freeing to know it doesn't have to be perfect.

I cant really pinpoint it, to be honest. There was just something magical about the Holiday. It struck me young and it grew each year.

It started at 6 when the teachers at school whould tell stories. I also love the creative part of it. Most of all the makeup.

My mother and my uncle.

My mother is always very creative and she used to do garage haunts every Halloween when I was a kid. It was alot of fun and some of my obsession started there for sure.

My uncle, he was quite a famous Warlock, he was on shows such as Johnny Carson, Oprah and Merv Griffin. Ill post a link if anyone is interested and would like to read about him. Anyways, he used to decorate his house inside and out. He had a tombstone walkway on his stairs. He used to bring us out into the forest where he had setup elaborate "fairy houses" under fallen tree stumps and such. Stuff like little tables, chairs and beds...it was amazing as a little kid to see. But he always did some kind of decorating of his house an yard for Halloween and I loved it. Heres a link if anyone is interested.

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com...westborugh.htm

I have been doing my own yard haunt for 5 years now and keep adding stuff every year, the kids of the neighbor hood love it, and it makes me want to do more each year. I take twoo weeks off before Halloween to setup my yard, house and garage. I do a full yard graveyard with all the stuff in it, and I do projections on the house and I hand made the Haunted Mansion singing busts for last year, that was a HUGE hit! AND I decorate the inside of my house both floors. Its ALOT of work for one person...still havent found my companion haunter yet. 8(

Sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent there, but ya, my mother and uncle had a lot to do with my love for Halloween. OH! I made the paper last year too! Heres a link!

http://www.millburysutton.com/news/2...loween_di.html

--Tony

My mom was kind of the opposite in that she took me to see horror movies when I was really young and that love of horror has stuck with me my entire life. It's still one of the things we bond over today.

As for your town doing all of that on Halloween...THAT'S AWESOME! wow. neat stuff and welcome to the forum!

I grew up with my mom making my costumes rather than just throwing on a cheap piece of plastic as my mask. They weren't overly intricate but they didn't have to be. She always instilled a love of Halloween in me.

i remember sitting in my kitchen as a young kid and siskel&ebert were reviewing John Carpenter's Halloween on t.v. and that right there was the beginning of me loving EVERYTHING about Halloween.